Boulder Education & Schools

I Have a Dream, CU-Boulder give high schoolers head start on college

Boulder High incoming junior Erika Olguin can walk from her house to Boulder High in 10 minutes, so she was surprised that it took her just as long to get from a dorm at the University of Colorado to her class.

"I didn't realize how big CU is," she said.

At the same time, she said, she expected all the classrooms to be big lecture halls and was glad to see lots of smaller classrooms during a two-week summer program on campus.

The experience is helpful, she added, because "they're treating us like college students."

Olguin is one of 30 incoming high school juniors and seniors — most who will be first-generation college students — who are at CU to get a firsthand view of campus life by living in the dorms, eating at the C4C and taking classes.

"It's a good experience and fun," said Gaby Lopez, who will be a senior at Boulder High. "Living in the dorms is a completely different experience than just visiting. You get the real world thing."

The immersion summer program was created by the "I Have a Dream" Foundation of Boulder County, which sponsors students from low-income households and provides long-term academic support and college scholarships.

The program, in its second year, is part of a year-round pre-collegiate program started by "I Have a Dream" Foundation through a two-year, $100,000 grant from the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative.

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The pre-collegiate program, serving 460 middle- and high-schoolers, is a collaborative initiative that includes I Have a Dream, the Boulder Valley School District's Adelante! program, CU, Front Range Community College, Boulder Housing Partners and Workforce Boulder County.

Along with the high school program at CU, I Have a Dream is offering several other pre-collegiate opportunities this summer.

Earlier this month, 200 elementary and middle school "I Have a Dream" students visited CU to take campus tours and see popular sites like the museum, the planetarium and the recreation center.

In July, rising freshman and sophomore high school students will visit all four Front Range Community College campuses for tours of the laboratories and student service offices, career exploration activities and a parent reception.

For the CU summer session, the high school students applied by submitting a transcript, essay and letters of recommendation, similar to a real college application.

They're taking classes that they'll take in the fall at their high schools, including chemistry, physics, algebra 2, pre-calculus and writing.

They're also taking either a Chicano studies or ethnic studies class to get a taste of a college elective, plus a college-prep seminar to learn about resources like financial aid and scholarships.

"It's so helpful," said Abraham Meza, who will be a junior at Longmont's Skyline High. "You get to interact with teachers and learn what you need to do in college classes. And the classes are preparing us not only for college, but for next year in high school."

In a recent chemistry class, the students got the full lab experience, donning safety goggles and learning to use equipment as they worked on a density and volume experiment that involved layering sugar solutions.

For writing, CU graduate instructor Stephanie Hartzell, worked with the juniors on persuasive writing in response to prompts and with seniors on college essays.

For college essays, she told the students they should be themselves, tell a story, have a unifying theme, tailor it to the school and "have a bunch of people read it."

She said she signed up to teach the classes because of her own experiences as a first generation college student.

"It was really difficult for me to navigate the type of work I was asked to do," she said. "It's really important to me to help prepare first generation students. I would really love for them to come out of this with more confidence as writers and better prepared for college."

Fairview incoming junior Manny Gutierrez said he didn't expect quite so much work, but added that it's still been a "really fun" opportunity.

"I wanted to do something progressive with my summer and expand my education," he said.

Berenise Corchado, who will be a senior at Boulder High, said the program is giving her a head start. Her biggest worries about college include "feeling out of place and all the costs."

"This is a really good way to experience college life and meet new people," she said.

Boulder High School juniors Citlali Vazquez, at right, and Lucy Canales work together to measure density of sugar solutions during a chemistry class on the CU campus on Wednesday as part of the "I Have A Dream" Pre-Collegiate Program. For more photos of the class go to www.dailycamera. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

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